Muggle Born Slytherin
by aprilen
Summary: It is a new and improved story from the original! Follow Rebekah on her journey through Hogwarts as a muggle born who was sorted into Slytherin. She's also falling for Cedric, for the two of them haven't talked since their second year at Hogwarts. Her feelings of missing him blossomed into something else entirely.
1. Chapter 1

**Camping Out**

I take out my earplugs and hear Maddie's snores loud and clear now that there isn't anything obstructing my ears. For such a pretty girl her snores are pretty loud. I laugh softly as I unzip the tent, hoping to let more light in. I look at my pager to see that it's around the time that we should be awake. We are going hiking today. I look outside and see that it is partly cloudy, with some dark clouds. _Hopefully it won't rain today_. I think as I close the tent and begin to change under my sleeping bag. I pull on a pair of athletic leggings under my sleeping bag, and pull off my pajama bottoms.

I put that to the side and begin putting on an old long sleeve, then a sport jacket to keep me warm out in the woods. I pull on my socks and begin putting on sunblock. I look at the sleeping Maddie and decide to wake her up so she can get ready in time. "Maddie, it's time to wake up." I say to her in a gentle voice. I even shake her gently so I can wake her up, but she just moves and turns her back to me. I let out a sigh and decide to use a more cruel method of waking her up. I unzip our tent's door, and let the cold air come in. I leave it open wide as I enjoy the fresh air that is flowing into our tent.

"It's so cold…" I hear her mumble as she pulls her sleeping bag over her face. I roll my eyes and pull the sleeping bag from her face.

"Wake up, we're going on a hike, remember?" I ask her. She grabs for the sleeping bag, but I have a tight grip on it. "No, you're not going back to sleep." I tell her. She finally sits up and sighs. I smile, success.

"Want to close that door? I need to change." Maddie says rubbing her sleepy eyes. I nod and zip it closed.

"I honestly don't remember the last time we camped out together." I say as I turn my back to her so I don't see her change.

"Yeah, we must have been ten the last time we camped with our families." She says, yes but this time around my parents are out on a business trip. It seemed serious and the two of them had to attend this time. So it is just me and the Labelles. Her parents treat me like I'm their second daughter so it is like camping out with family. Maddie is about a month or so older than me. I'm about to be sixteen in a few days. This isn't the first time that my parents have missed my birthday. I'm used to it. I remember celebrating with Maddie and her parents.

After Maddie is finally done dressing I put on my shoes and unzipped the tent and stepped out. I look and see that Mr. and Mrs. Labelle are up and cooking breakfast already. I smile and walk over to the grill. "Bon matin," I say as I look at the grill to see that we're having bacon for breakfast, it is one of the easiest meats to cook.

Mr. Labelle turns to face me, he already has some traces of gray hair on his head, and the wrinkles on his face are visible when he smiles. Mr. Labelle has a medium build and is of average height, his skin is a bit darker than his wife and daughter's. Sometimes I wonder if Maddie was ever adopted. Maddie has dark brown hair while her parents both have blonde hair. That is only difference between her and her parents. All of them have blue eyes and fairly pale skin. "Bon matin," He says in return. "Is Maddie up?" He asks me as he grabs a plate and puts the bacon on there.

"Yup, she's up." I say as I look at our menu. There is untoasted bread, bacon, an assortment of packaged jellies, and scrambled eggs that are still on the pan. My stomach starts to growl just looking at the food. I put my hand over it to "quiet it down". _I'll feed you soon_. I think as I look at our tent to see Maddie finally getting out. "Took you long enough." I say walking to her.

"Bon matin, to you too." She says sarcastically. I laugh and greet her good morning. "Did you sleep well?" She asks me.

"Yup, my earplugs helped, I'm sure you slept well." I say giving her a friendly nudge with my elbow. She has been trying to paging someone while on this trip. I should have just confiscated her pager and kept it with me. I'm not even sure if her pages are even being sent to whomever she's sending it to. I'm assuming it's her boyfriend, or a crush that she actually had the courage to talk to. If I had feelings for someone, that person will never find out, well not from me anyway.

"Just because I snore, doesn't mean I slept well." She says giving me a nudge back. I just let out a small laugh, but then I notice that she's wearing makeup. I furrow my brows as to why she is wearing makeup. There is no one here to impress.

"Why do you have makeup on? We're going to hike, all that dirt is going to get on your makeup." I say to her. I have hiked before and the dirt that I end up wiping off, with my sweat, made the napkin black. Maddie just shrugs and starts reaching for the plate of bacon. Mr. Labelle and Mrs. Labelle join us after they went back into their tent. Maddie passes me the plate of bacon, I take it and use my plastic fork to grab two strips. I then reach for the pan of scrambled eggs, and use the spoon to add some onto the plastic plate. I carefully pass it to Maddie. I am about to take a bite of my scrambled eggs but someone puts their hands over my eyes.

I gasp out of surprise and try to remove the hands off of my eyes so I can see who it is. My hands travel up the person's arms and he's leaning back. I can tell that this person is a man because of the size of his hands and his forearms. I move my head trying to remove his hands from my eyes. He finally removes it and the sudden light hurts my eyes. I rub them and I hear the Labelles snickering.

I turn around and see my Uncle Nate. I feel a big grin tugging on the corners of my lips. I get up from my seat and wrap my arms around his neck. I feel his arms wrap around my waist, and lifting me up spinning me, just like the way he does. Uncle Nate is rather young, he's only twenty years old, but he doesn't look it. "What are you doing here?" I ask him. "Aren't you supposed to be at the States right now?" I ask him as we break the hug.

"I came back early for my little watermelon's birthday." He says kissing me on the forehead. I smile, glad that someone from my family is here to celebrate my birthday with me. His nickname for me is because of what happened when I was one year old. I climb into half of a watermelon skin and sat there. There's a picture of me sitting there smiling like a little goofball. I wrap my arms around his waist again for another hug. I missed him, I haven't seen him since last Christmas.

"Hi Uncle Nate." Maddie's voice, it's a playful one, she's trying to flirt with him as always. Of course Nate thinks he's too old for her, while Maddie thinks otherwise. She thinks it is okay that the two of them are four years apart. I also think its okay but I don't know how I feel about Maddie dating my uncle and if things work out and they marry, she's going to be my aunt. That will be very weird.

"Maddie, how are you?" I hear Uncle Nate ask her. I sit back down on the picnic table. I already know that Maddie has her arm around my Uncle's and having him sit down next to her instead of me. I just shake my head at her and her parents are here to witness all of this. I'm sure they hear her talk about Uncle Nate. She never stops, well maybe she does just to listen to me and my love life.

Mrs. Labelle looks at her daughter, unsure of what to do. Her blonde hair is tied up in a bun, and she's wearing her hiking gear as well. She also has some gray hairs, and she also wears glasses just like her husband. I like to think of the two as a perfect couple because, well they are. I never see them argue, and I can tell that they love each other.

"I'm great, how about you?" I hear Maddie. I just shake my head as I continue to eat our breakfast. I look down and see something in my Uncle's pocket. I look at it and it seems like a flask. Uncle Nate doesn't drink, not that I remember. Maybe it's for water, not all flasks are for alcohol, right? I don't bring it up and continue eating until I am full, but not too full. We are hiking after this.

Uncle Nate puts his arm around my shoulders. I look up at him and our eyes catch. "I'm happy that I can celebrate my niece's birthday," he says looking at everyone at the table. I smile glad that he's here as well. I'm sure I have shown it already to everyone that's here. I sometimes feel like Uncle Nate and I could have been siblings, because we are so close in age. He was also born here in the UK, like me. My parents didn't really have a choice in moving to the UK. My father was ten when he moved with his parents, and my mum was about six when she came. We saw each other fairly often when I was younger, and I always assumed he was my brother, instead of my uncle. My parents told me multiple times to call him uncle instead of older brother (in Korean).

"Do you remember me calling you oppa, instead of samchon?" I ask him as I remember my four year old self calling the eight year old Nate older brother. He lets out a chuckle as he removes his arm from small shoulders. I look at his face and it seems that he is trying to recollect that memory.

"Yeah, I remember. I also thought that you were my younger sister." He says in response to this. I look at the Labelles and they seem confused.

"Sorry, samchon means uncle, and oppa means older brother in Korean. But oppa is only used by younger sisters." I explain to them. The sudden realization is obvious on their faces as they nod and smile. That is how I am with my grandparents whenever we go visit them. I'm sure they're aware of the fact that I don't really speak Korean. I simply nod and smile whenever my grandparents talk to me.

After breakfast is over, and Maddie's still flirting with my uncle, we are packed and ready to go hiking out in the woods. I look over at Uncle Nate and he seems dressed to go hiking. We made all of our sandwiches, for our lunch while we hike. I see him take a swig from his flask. The top of it has the shape of a man's head, and the only way to open it is "decapitating" the man's head from the opening. I don't remember my Uncle Nate ever carrying a flask.

He knocks his head back as he drinks it, and he kind of shivers after he drinks it. It doesn't seem like an enjoyable drink, judging from his scrunched up face. _Is he taking an herbal medicine?_ I wonder as I remember having to drink those horrible bitter herbal drinks. He seems fine. I smile when he catches my eye, and he smiles back as he puts his flask back into his jacket pocket.

"Ready to go hiking?" He asks as he makes sure that his flask is in his pocket.

"Of course I am, are you healthy enough?" I ask him gesturing towards his flask. He notices and smiles.

"Of course I am, why would I not be?" He asks me. I shrug and just decide not to mention the fact that I assume that he's drinking herbal medicine.

"Nate!" I hear Maddie's voice say and Uncle Nate looks up to see her, and I turn around. Maddie's dressed in athletic leggings, hiking boots, and she also has a jacket to keep her warm during this cold morning. I turn my attention again to Uncle Nate and he has this goofy expression on his face. I wave my hands over his eyes but all he does is move my hand away. I have never noticed him look at Maddie this way. I look over at Maddie again and she looks like her usual self, there's nothing different. Uncle Nate walks slowly towards her, as if he's entranced by her. He wasn't like this during breakfast.

Maddie is still watching Uncle Nate come towards her. I still don't see anything different about her. This is really weird. I look over at Mr. and Mrs. Labelle and they look confused as I am. The only type of people that I can think of can do such a thing is a Veela, but Maddie isn't a Veela is she? Sure she's beautiful, but now Uncle Nate seems to be charmed by her.

We start our hike and the two of them are clinging to each other, well more like my Uncle Nate constantly staying by her side, and making sure that she doesn't injure herself. I shake my head as she uses those fake falls to just have him hug her in his arms. I sigh as I walk with Mr. and Mrs. Labelle. I'm used to hanging out with these two, they're like my second pair of parents.

"Oh, this looks beautiful!" I hear Mrs. Labelle say. I look in the direction that she's looking at and I see that we have walked into a forest of trees. I smile as I look up at the leaves with the sun shining down on them. I take out my camera and take a picture. I smile as I continue looking up at the trees. We continue walking and we manage to get out of the forest of trees, while Maddie and my Uncle Nate are lagging behind us.

"Are you okay?" I hear Uncle Nate say to Maddie. I look over my shoulder and I see her blushing. Her cheeks are so red it looks as if she ran a marathon. She simply nods and clings on to his arm, not willing to let go of him. I roll my eyes at these two. I guess I'm not really okay with these two ever being a couple, even if she really does like him, and vice versa.

I look out above the hill and see a sea of tents. I wonder why there are so many people here, and it seems that Mr. and Mrs. Labelle can't see the tents. They seem to be marveling at the meadow that it should be without those tents there. I lend them my camera so that they can take some pictures. They ask me to help them take a picture of the two of them with the view.

"Of course," I say. I am about to snap a shot, but I hear about six thuds nearby. I lower the camera and look over to my right to find four red heads, one black haired boy, and a brown haired girl on the floor. I see that the Labelles are also looking in that general direction. I give them my camera and rush over to the six of them. "Are you alright?" I ask them. I extend my hand out to one of the red haired boys and he takes my hand and I help him up.

"Yeah, we're fine." I hear him say and I look up in the same direction as him, and I see two familiar faces "climbing" down from the sky. _They used a portkey_. I think as I they softly land where these six children landed on their backs.

"Are you sure?" I ask, wanting to make sure that they're alright. The boy nods, and now that I have closer look at everyone, I realize that they're all from my school, Hogwarts.

"Rebekah?" The voice belongs to someone who I used to call my best friend. The two of us basically fell apart when we reached our second year at Hogwarts. That was also when I made it to the Slytherin Quidditch team. Of course I think he has stopped talking to me because of that, but I think it's something else. I turn around and I see him standing there with his dad. His dad has his back facing me while he's talking with a man whom I assume to be Mr. Weasley. I hear murmurs behind me and I know they're already talking about me.

I look at his grey eyes and I feel my heart skipping a beat and my cheeks are warming up for no reason at all. I pull my hair from a ponytail and cover my face with my long black hair. "Cedric, let's go to our t-." He stops talking when he sees me. His faces turns from happy to a grim and solemn expression. His lips are also in a tight line. _There has to be another reason why Cedric just stops talking to me_. I think, remembering that Cedric will not be the type of person that will turn his back on a friend.

"I better get going." I say making myself feel even smaller than I actually am. My shoulders are hunched over, I even fold my arms in an attempt to shield myself from the Diggory's.

I turn around and start making my way back to the Labelles, but all I remember feeling is the way I felt when I looked into his eyes. _No, no, I'm not crushing on him, am I?_ I shake my head as I try to calm myself down and think of something else. "That boy was cute." I hear Maddie say to me. I look at her and see that she's still clinging onto Uncle Nate's arm, who is looking at her like she's the only thing he sees. I nearly gag when I see that dorky expression on his face.

"Who?" I ask her, trying to deter the feelings that are still lingering. I clear my throat and we continue walking out onto the meadow. It is time for lunch.

"Oh let's set up here, the view is amazing!" I hear Uncle Nate say. I shiver, his voice sounds too cheery and elated. I have heard him excited and all, but not this excited. Right now, he seems like a little boy in a man's body.

"You're right, Nate." I hear Mrs. Labelle say, and I nod, agreeing with everyone. Mr. Labelle sets down the picnic basket and takes out the blanket. He unravels the white and red checkered blanket. It's something that one will see at a typical picnic. Mrs. Labelle starts taking out some refreshments. I grab a bottle of water and take a swig, hoping this will stop my heart from beating so quickly. I stop drinking and take a deep breath. I look over my shoulder and see that Uncle Nate is feeding Maddie.

"Aren't you two disturbed by this?" I ask turning to face the parents, as I point my thumb towards the two little love birds. The two of them look at each other before answering my question.

"A little, it's strange, I thought your uncle always tried to discourage Maddie." Mrs. Labelle replies.

"Yeah, I thought so, too." I reply as I take a bite out of my sandwich. I never knew how tasty and sandwich was until today. The meat was savory and a little salty. I know I put turkey meat in mine, so how does it taste this amazing? "This is amazing," I say with my mouth full. I feel myself blush after I have realized my mistake. I grab my water bottle and use it to help make the food go down my throat.

"Thank you," I hear Mr. Labelle say. "I marinated it in salt and wine, I didn't think it would work for turkey, but I guess it does." He adds with a huge smile and a gentle laugh. I laugh as well and I'm glad that he did, it tastes amazing.

"It is wonderful, I love it!" I say as I take another bite. Now I can taste the seeping out of the turkey and onto my tongue, and the hint of salt really adds in the flavor, as if I put some chips into my sandwich, but without the oil and fat from the chips.

After we finish eating we sit there and enjoy the view. All I am seeing are a bunch of tents as well as many people celebrating and selling merchandise to the many Quidditch World Cup attendees. _I wish I was down there with them._ I wonder as I hear a pager beep behind me. I look over and see my Uncle Nate pulling out his pager. He looks at it for a while and seems to register what the message is saying. He stands up as if something pinched him.

"What's wrong?" I ask him. His face is full of worry and it seems that he needs to be there soon.

"I need to go back to the city." He says, and his voice shakes a little, and it is possibly from the anxiety he's feeling right now.

"Do you know the way back to the campsite?" Mrs. Labelle asks him. "I'm assuming your car is nearby." She adds.

"Yeah, I know my way." He replies with a curt nod. He runs off leaving us at the picnic. It seems that whatever that is occupying his mind brings him back to reality.

I wonder what is going on that he has to leave so abruptly. He is currently a student and is possibly working as an intern, and something came up. I keep trying to think of many other reasons of why he has to leave early, but I run out by the time we reach the campsite. We are leaving tomorrow morning so we just eat a small dinner before going to bed.

I look over at Maddie and she seems to have taken it harder than I thought she would. "Hey, he didn't leave because of you." I say trying to comfort her.

She lets out a sigh, "I know, but it still feels like he did." She says as she rolls onto her side, with her back facing me. Now it's my turn to let a sigh of disappointment. I pull into my sleeping bag and put my head on my pillow. I am about to close my eyes until I hear footsteps. I look at the shadow on the tent to see who it is. I look over my shoulder to see if Maddie is asleep, and her shoulders are moving up and down slowly like she's in deep sleep.

I cover my mouth so I can quiet down my breathing, so whoever is walking by our tent can't hear me. I would cover Maddie's, too but she might struggle with me, I would if someone did that while I was sleeping. I continue to watch the figure and the person seems to be going towards Mr. and Mrs. Labelle's tent. My breathing quickens as my heart starts to hammer against my sternum. I feel on the top cover of my sleeping bag and feel the familiar oak wood wand in my hand. I have a tight grip on my wand as I slowly pull it out of the pocket. My mum made me these pockets so I can keep my wand with me wherever I go. I have heard stories of other muggle born families not wanting their children anywhere near their wands while they're outside of Hogwarts. I am glad that my mum knows that my wand can protect me from dangerous wizards. I guess now is the time to defend my friend and her parents.

I don't hear anything but there are more footsteps coming towards our site. I slowly pull the sleeping bag off of me and get out. I unzip the door and the cold winds come rushing into the tent, causing Maddie to curl up a bit more. I unzip it further, just enough for me to step out onto the grass. I keep my wand hidden behind me and scan around our campsite, looking for anyone that threatens my friend and her family.

I tighten my grip on my wand and decide to put it in ready position. "Show yourself," I say circling around to see if anyone will ambush me or show up.

"Rebekah," I hear someone say behind me, I turn around and point my wand at Uncle Nate.


	2. Chapter 2

**Authentic Uncle Nate**

I quickly put my wand away and Uncle Nate stops me. "Don't put that away." He whispers to me as he loosens his grip on my wrist. I look at him confused as to how he would know what a wand is. He seems to catch on and his expression tells me that he wasn't supposed to know what a wand is. "I mean, what is that thing going to do?" He asks me. I shake my head at his lame attempt to pretend he doesn't know what it is. We are close, but my dad told me not to tell anyone in the family, even Uncle Nate. I didn't know why, but I obeyed, until now.

I give him a raised eyebrow and he lets out a sigh. "Okay, you got me. I know about the wizarding world, don't put that away." He says pointing at my wand.

"But how do you know?" I ask him. He shakes his head, indicating that he doesn't want to answer it right now, or it might not be the best time and place to discuss this. "And didn't you leave to go to the city?" I ask him. Now it's his turn to look at me confused.

"What are you talking about, I never left the city, and I don't even know how I got here." He says rubbing the back of his head. I start to feel fear and anxiety creeping up on me. "Someone impersonated you using the po-," he finishes the sentence for me.

"Polyjuice Potion." How did he know about that potion? I'm a muggle born witch, or at least I assume that I am. How does my Uncle know about the wizarding world, but not my parents?

"Are you sure you're not a wizard of some kind?" I ask him folding my arms.

"I swear to you I'm not, I just work closely with a colleague who is a wizard. I told him about you and he told me about You-Know-Who and the dangers of it. That's why that wizard left the wizarding world." He says explaining to me how he knows about the world that has been hidden from muggles for a long time. I furrow my brows finding this hard to believe. "I'll explain more later." Uncle Nate says as we hear footsteps coming towards the campsite. I pull out my wand ready to send a hex towards whoever is coming.

The person sounds like they have been running and when he comes closer I recognize the figure. It's Cedric. "Cedric!" I whisper, trying not to wake up anyone. I lower my wand and he turns around. He also has his wand out, but hides it immediately when he sees that I'm not alone.

"Rebekah? What are you doing here?" He asks me. A cold breeze comes by and I hug myself trying to keep myself warm. Uncle Nate does the same and I finally see that he's only wearing his boxers, and his undershirt. Cedric advances towards my Uncle Nate, and he looks ready to punch him.

"Cedric, stop, it's not what you think!" I say to him. He steps back, but he still looks angry. I didn't know that he still cares about me. I blush at the thought, and I am glad that the darkness of the night is hiding it.

"Did you think I… No never I would never, we're like practically siblings!" I hear Uncle Nate say, and I can just see himself straightening his undershirt and making himself look taller. Cedric is about half a head taller than my uncle.

I look at Cedric and see that he has soot all over his face and his hair, and I notice that he has a cut on his arm after my eyes had adjusted to the darkness. "What happened? Did something happen after the game?" I ask him, concern lacing my voice. I reach out to his face and try to wipe some soot away, but I end up smearing it. I remove my hand right away, not sure why I even did that.

"There were," I see Cedric look back at my Uncle, and I tell him that it's fine. "Death Eaters everywhere. They set nearly all of the tents on fire. He says as he ruffles his hair to allow some of the soot to fall away.

"Where's your dad?" I ask him, Mr. Diggory doesn't seem to be too fond of me right now and I don't want to bump into him again.

"He's coming, go back into your tent." Cedric instructs me. I nod and walk back into my tent. I insist that Uncle Nate comes into the tent with me but he decides to just hide among the trees. I go back in as quickly as possible. Maddie is still sleeping and I slip into my sleeping bag and put my wand to my left so Maddie doesn't see it if she wakes up.

"My boy, are you alright?" I hear Mr. Diggory ask his son. "Looks like a family is out camping." He says, and I can picture him looking at the two tents.

"They're sleeping, let's keep it that way." I hear Cedric whisper to his dad.

 _Yes let's keep it that way._ I think to myself. I look over at Maddie and she's awake. My eyes widen and I put my finger to my lips to tell her not to say anything to me. I keep my wand at my side and she nods in agreement. She sits up in her sleeping bag, she looks ready to do something if anything went wrong. I can see her watching the two figures in the tent, the short one is Mr. Diggory while the taller one is Cedric.

The sound of the tree leaves rustling cause Maddie and I to look up. _No Uncle Nate, what are you doing?_ I think but after the rustles of leaves I don't hear anything, but I see movement outside of our tent. I look at Maddie and it seems that she's testing her ears as well.

"Can you hear me?" She mouths it or she says it very loudly.

I shake my head in response, trying to figure out what is wrong with my ears, and the next thing I know is that my head hits the pillow, and that is the last thing I remember. I wake up the next morning and from the light outside I can tell that it is probably around seven o'clock. I look over at Maddie and she's waking up as well.

"Last night was really weird," She says rubbing her eyes.

"Yeah it was." I say forgetting the fact that my ears did not work for a while last night.

"What is this?" I hear Maddie ask as she pulls up my wand. "It is a very decorative stick." She adds looking at the details of my wand. How do I explain this without revealing that it's actually a wand? I don't want her to take it and keep it.

"It's a family heirloom." I lie. I know it's weird that a decorative stick can be an heirloom, but maybe. Maddie does give me a puzzled look. "I know it's weird, but it is." I say to her. She shrugs and gives me back my wand. I smile at her as a thanks and tuck it away somewhere safe in my duffel bag. It's already full of clothes so my wand will not bend and break from the sudden change in shape of the bag.

I change into the outfit that I prepared for today, a pair of jeans, a solid long sleeve shirt, and a pullover hoodie to keep me warm for this morning while we are still in the woods. After I changed out of my pajamas, I begin to roll up my sleeping bag as tight as I can so I can put it in the bag that the sleeping bag came in.

After I stuff it into my bag I put it next to my duffel. I look around the almost empty tent to see if I have missed anything. "Alright looks like I have everything." I say touching my pockets to see if I have my pager in my pocket, so I can let my parents know when we are leaving. They have always been quite overprotective of me for as long as I can remember.

"Same here." Maddie says as she finishes up stuffing her sleeping bag into the small bag. "Time to take down the tent." She says as she steps out of the tent. _I wonder if Uncle Nate got out of here, his car is gone._ I think, I do remember not seeing it when we made our way back last night. Maybe the imposter moved the car and hid it somewhere.

I step out with my things as well and I put them on the picnic table. I walk back towards the tent and begin helping Maddie take it down. I see Maddie look over her shoulder to her parent's tent. "This is weird, my parents are usually awake before me." I hear her say.

"Maybe they went out to grab some firewood." I say to her as I shrug my shoulders.

"Yeah maybe, or they decided to sleep in." I hear her say as I finally manage to pull out the last rod that keeps the tent down. She laughs a little when she sees that I'm sitting on the floor.

"You try pulling them out," I say with a teasing tone as she lifts the pole out of the grass. I help her pull it out and fold it up. After that we move on to the other poles. I hear the zipper of the other tent opening and I look over and see Maddie's parents stepping out. I smile, glad that they had their goodnight's rest.

"Good morning," I say to greet the two of them. They say good morning in return and give Maddie a good morning kiss.

"I thought you two were already up," I hear Maddie say as she drops the tent to give her parents both a peck on the cheek. I continue pulling out the pole and I fold it up as I go so it will not be too long to handle once it is out.

"We were, and we heard the two of you, so we thought we wanted let you two clean up first." Mr. Labelle says with a huge smile on his face. I chuckle at their decision while Maddie pouts at her two parents. "It looks like you two are nearly done." He adds pointing at the tent.

"Yeah just need someone to push the pole out." I say as I give Maddie an accusing stare. She sticks out her tongue at me like a two year old and begrudgingly walks to the other side of the pole to push it out of the tent. "Thank you," I say and the two of us laugh as we finish taking down the tent. "I'm going to miss this." I say as we fold the tent up and neatly and tightly as possible.

"Me, too." Maddie adds as she puts the poles into the bag, while I'm standing there holding onto the folded tent. She opens the bag up and I put the neatly folded tent into the bag. She zips it up as I look around to see if we missed anything.

After we had our last breakfast out in the woods we begin to make our sandwiches for lunch. I make sure mine doesn't have any cheese in it. I never really liked cheese. We begin to pile everything into the car and make sure that there is room for everything that we brought with us. Mr. Labelle goes into the driver's side, while I sit behind him, and Maddie sits behind her mum. Maddie's a little taller than me, that's why I always sit behind her dad. I don't mind it all, really. If I had a car I would rather have a short person sit behind me instead of a taller person.

Throughout the car ride we were just talking about the things we enjoyed about the camping extravaganza. I leave out the part of Uncle Nate coming to our campsite in his underwear, and Cedric coming over as well. I keep replying that scene of when Cedric thought my Uncle was a predator and how he reacted. Does he actually still care for me, as a friend? I feel my heart fluttering again and the butterflies in my stomach awaken to a bright new day.

"Why are you blushing?" I hear Maddie say in a teasing tone. She even gives me a friendly poke. I put my hands up to my cheek and they feel pretty warm. My eyes widen realizing that my cheeks are betraying my feelings for Cedric. I look at Maddie and she's anticipating my answer, and my hands are still covering my cheeks.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I say beginning to use my hair to cover up my cheeks.

"You know, you're terrible at lying, right?" She says crossing her arms. I roll my eyes and give up. I whisper to her and she squeals. I put my finger on my mouth to indicate for her to be a little quieter. Her parents can totally hear this conversation. My parents don't even know that I have a crush on my supposedly long-time friend, Cedric. These feelings came out of nowhere! "I knew it! I knew you liked him." She says a little too loudly. I give her this look and it doesn't seem to be registering.

"Maddie, your dad needs to concentrate on the road, shh." I say trying to keep her calm. She quiets down a little because we are still driving down the mountain roads which are always turning.

"How long have you had a crush on him?" She asks me in a low voice, finally. This girl knows that I don't like someone out of the blue, but this one is out of the blue. I saw him again and the heart fluttering, and the butterflies came at me like a train.

"Yesterday. I think it's just because I miss him." I say shrugging my shoulders. "I have to think about these things for a while, you know me." I say to her, and I already feel myself blushing thinking about him.

"Are you sure? I've never seen you blush this much for a boy." She says raising her eyebrows up and down. I shake my head, not really sure about this anymore, but I turn the subject towards her.

"What about you? You somehow 'charmed' my Uncle Nate yesterday." I say using air quotes around the word "charmed". It seemed like he was under some spell, I wonder if she really is a Veela, or at least a half-Veela. That makes me wonder if male Veelas can seduce women who aren't Veelas.

"Maybe he finally saw how beautiful I am." Maddie says as she moves her hair blonde hair over her shoulder. After the long drive back into the city the Labelles drop me off before going to their house to drop everything else off.

"Thank you so much for the wonderful time, and the surprise." I say to them, though I did hesitate a bit. That was not the real Uncle Nate who came to surprise me yesterday morning.

"Of course, I'm glad you had a great time." Mrs. Labelle says as she gives me a hug. I hug her back. Mr. Labelle opens the trunk of the car and starts to pull out my suitcase and I help him move some things around so that nothing falls out of the car. I grab my sleeping bag and my pillow from the car as well and begin making my way to the door with Mr. Labelle close behind; he's helping me with the suitcase. I stop at my door and take out my keys. I look for the one that's for the front door, but someone opens the door. I look up and see my parents standing there.

"Mum, dad! You're back early!" I say as I drop my bags and embrace one after the other. I missed them so much, I always do whenever they have these business trips. My dad is a manager for a business and is sent from one place to another for conferences. My mum also works there, and the company decides to send my mum along. Of course when I was younger she wasn't able to attend, but after sending me to Hogwarts, she was able to go.

"Yes, we wanted to surprise you!" My mum, Helen, says as she cups my face with both of her hands. I smile, glad that they're back. My mum looks younger for her age, she has fair skin like me, dark black hair, and deep brown eyes. My dad, Henry, also has darker skin and his hair is beginning to gray and thin out, but he still looks young for his age as well. My dad is about 1.80 meters tall, while my mum and I are 1.60 meters tall.

"Well you did." I say in response as I pick up my bags again. Mum and dad step back allowing me room to come into the house. I say goodbye to the Labelles as they drive their car up to their driveway, which was right across the street from our own.

"Had a great business trip?" Mr. Labelle asks as my parents let him in so that he can set my suitcase down somewhere in the house.

"Yeah, it was the usual boring business trip." My dad says in response as he walks into the living room. Mr. Labelle places my luggage down while I place my pillow and sleeping bag on the couch. My mum gives Mr. Labelle a hug as a way of greeting him.

"Thank you so much for taking her out on the camping trip." She says smiling.

"Of course Helen, we didn't want her to be alone when her birthday was coming up." Mr. Labelle says as he smiles at me. I smile back, glad that they did invite me to go camping with them.

After the three of them exchange a few words Mr. Labelle walks over to his house so that they may unpack from the trip. My dad closes the door behind him and he walks over to our cozy living room. The tv is next to the big window, and our couch is across from the tv. The fireplace is in the opposite corner of the couch and there is a beige colored carpet all around the house except for the kitchen and the bathrooms. There are pictures of me when I was younger, and a pictures of my family with the extended family. My Uncle Nate is even in some of the pictures that are displayed throughout the house.

"How was your camping trip, dear?" My mum says as we sit down on the black leather couch.

"It was wonderfu1! I had a lot of fun with the Labelle's as usual." I say telling them about the picnic we had at the end. I didn't want to mention about Uncle Nate being there, because my parents knew where he was supposed to be (the states). I do want to ask them about how Uncle Nate knows about the wizarding world, his excuse was somewhat lame. My parents have never been to Hogwarts, but then again, how else would Uncle Nate know about the wizarding world? If I had a friend that was going to Hogwarts instead of me, I would know about the wizarding world, as well, right? "I really enjoyed the food that Mr. and Mrs. Labelle made. It was really good, but I do miss mum's cooking." I say as I put my head on her shoulder for a brief moment.

I hear my mum chuckle and she strokes my hair before I lift my head up from her shoulder. "We missed you, too darling." She says as she pulls me into a warm hug. My mum looks at the clock and notices that it's nearly dinner time. She leaves the couch and begins walking towards the kitchen.

While my mum is in the kitchen I talk to my dad about the camping trip and tell him how beautiful it was. Maddie and her family took a lot of pictures, and they're going to have them developed probably in a week or so. "I would love to see them." I hear my mum say from the kitchen. Oh no, why did I mention the pictures? "Uncle Nate" were in those pictures, looking at Maddie with googly eyes.

My dad's phone chimes as we sit there in silence for a bit. He takes it out and reads the text message or email that he received. "Rebekah, I think you should go unpack, and see what you need to pack for school." He says gesturing for me to go upstairs.

"But school isn't until September 1st." I say slowly while I get up from the couch at the same time.

"Well, it's good to be prepared." My dad says as he sends me off to my room. I walk up the stairs and look at him suspiciously as he just smiles and gestures for me to go to my room. I look away and just walk up the rest of the stairs and up to my room. My door has my first initial on it, which was a block of wood in the shape of an "R" that Maddie painted; coincidentally the colors are green and silver, as if she knew that I was sorted into Slytherin at Hogwarts.

I open the door to my room and walk in. To my left is my bookcase full of the books I have read since childhood then around the corner is my desk, which is also usually stacked with my "to read list". I have a bay window with curtains that are flying from the breeze blowing every now and then. My bed is across from the bay window, facing it, and the closet is in between the bay window and the bed. I notice that my bags are leaning against the closet door, and I begin to unzip my duffel bag and begin putting the folded clothes onto the bay window bench.

I take out my jacket and open the closet door to find a white box sitting on top of my dresser. It was also tied up neatly with a simple solid colored bow. I hang my jacket first and look at the box, wondering if I should open it. Maybe they're planning something and they're going to have a "scavenger hunt" for me so I can find my presents. _If my dad knew, why would he send me up here?_ I wonder, still looking at the present. _Maybe I shouldn't_ , I think, as I leave the box where I found it.

I continue unpacking and see something on my bed. I look at it and can tell that this is from Maddie. It is wrapped in brown packaging paper, and it nearly takes up my whole bed. I can't believe I missed it. I hesitate before I open the present. My parents are definitely planning something. They know I hate surprises, and parties. I would like a simple hang out with family and friends, that's it. Maddie and I have only been in touch since the two of us basically went to "boarding school". Sure the other neighbors have children my age, but I'm not as close to them as I am with Maddie. It would be weird to have some people I barely know at this party. I shake my head at the thought and just begin sorting out my clothes again.

The dirty clothes are a pile on the floor so I remember which ones need to be washed, while the ones that don't need to be are hung in my closet or put away. I always bring extra clothes with me just in case things go awry, you never know. After I make sure that everything is put where it should be I pick up the pile of dirty clothes and begin making my way to the bathroom. I open the door and make a left to the bathroom down the hall. I walk into the bathroom and put my clothes into the hamper.

After that I decide to go downstairs, I didn't want to start packing for school just yet. I know summer is nearly over, but I also don't want it to be over. Sixth year is one of the most stressful years at Hogwarts, besides last year with the O. , now it's about preparing for the N.E. exams, just thinking about it gives me goosebumps.

"You're going to school in a week, you should start packing." He responds as he manages to "herd" me to my room and close the door behind me. I sigh as I look around to find my uniform for school. I manage to find my jumper, skirt, four sets of button down shirts and two sets of skirts. I find my shoes, and black knee socks, and black stockings, I usually wear the stockings during the winter months.

I begin packing the casual clothing that we can wear at school, along with at least four sets of pajamas. I also find the books that I bought from Diagon Alley and begin packing them in the big Hogwarts trunk, over the years it has been decorated with stickers and some letters from my friends that I kept, especially the birthday cards, well the ones that I really liked I taped to the inside of the trunk, the rest are on the walls in my room.

After packing up just a little bit more I take out a book and begin to read. I end up taking out an _Anne of Green Gables_ book, and begin reading from the beginning. I loved the movies and the books were more magical than what was put on screen. It's funny how the wizarding world believes that muggles don't have magic, books are one of the many evidences that muggles do have magic. These authors have the ability to create a world and transport their readers into another one without ever leaving one's house.

I close the book after I have read about 10 pages and decide to put on the necklace that my mum gave me. Did my parents mean for me to open the presents in my room? _I shouldn't, it might ruin whatever they're planning._ I think as I try to ignore the wrapped present on my bed. It's not flashy or anything, maybe that's why I didn't see it when I walked into my room. I knew I needed to unpack, and my focus was on that, so I don't think about the present on my bed.


	3. Chapter 3

**An Unexpected Guest**

My parents finally call me down and I have permission to leave my room, it was as if they grounded me for coming in after curfew, not that I have a curfew, okay I do, but it's any time before 11:00pm. I make my way down and the stairs creak under my weight, making my presence known to anyone in the house, then I smell something coming from the kitchen. It smells like one of my favorite Korean dishes that my mum makes occasionally.

"Is that bibimbap I smell?" I ask my mum, whom is standing in the living room along with my dad. She just beams a smile at me, and I smile back, hoping that it really is bibimbap. She knows I love it because of the warmth of the clay pot with the creamy yolk of the sunny side up eggs, and I also smell seaweed soup, which is what one eats on their birthday.

"Happy belated, sweetie, sorry we couldn't be here for your birthday." My dad says as he opens his arms up for a hug. I open mine up as well, and we hug each other, and I hug my mum next.

"The meal smells delicious, join me?" I ask them and the three of us walk into the kitchen, but my happy mood is simmered down a bit when I see someone; someone whom I didn't expect to see until I got back to school. He didn't attempt to hide considering his height. I froze at the doorway shocked that he was even here, but the chorus of "Surprise!" brought me back to reality and I feel a smile pulling at the corners of my lips. I even hear myself laugh as I see all of my primary school mates standing there with their arms wide and their warm smiles greeting me.

"Happy birthday Rebekah!" I hear nearly everyone in the kitchen shout. I just feel myself grinning as nearly everyone hugged me that is until I stopped at Cedric. The two of us stop and he nervously scratches the back of his neck while I look down at the floor. I look over at my parents and they're busy chatting with the adults at the party, I didn't even know that the parents were invited as well. I guess they need people to talk to as well, I'm surprised that they're not tired from their trip.

"Rebekah!" I hear a familiar voice saying, I turn around and find my Taekwondo instructor standing there with the biggest smile I have ever seen on his face, as well as his instructor in trainee, whom was one of my biggest "rivals" at the studio. I walk over to him and he wraps me up in a hug and I give him a hug as well. "You've grown so much, I can't believe you're sixteen!" He said as he hugged me again. He has basically seen me grow up, and he's like a second uncle to me. "You remember Brody, right?" He asks me as he moves away to give him room to greet me.

The boy that I used to spar with was now as tall as my instructor (Sam), and he has grown into his ears, they were pretty big when he was a kid. I noticed some changes, considering that I attended the summer sessions at the studio thanks to me going to Hogwarts. "Is this really Rebekah?" He asks Sam, and I give him a light punch on his shoulder, for him feigning to remember who I am. "Now I remember he said." The two of us dated before, but it never worked out, because he said that I kept too many secrets, and it was hard for us when I was back at Hogwarts and he was here. "Happy birthday." He adds with a smile and the two of us hug.

My parents were a little hesitant to allow the Brody and me to date, because we were really young. I just turned fourteen and he was fifteen. He was going to be my first boyfriend at the time, and I assumed that my parents thought I would date a Korean for my first boyfriend, but that is hard to do considering that Koreans are of a minority here in the United Kingdom. Brody is a brunette with rich brown eyes just like my family. He also has a great build, from all those years of Taekwondo. Of course he's more skilled at it than I am, because he's training to be an instructor, and he has always worked hard to be where he is now. Brody was a good first boyfriend, for any girl. He was such a gentleman, and still is, and he always made sure that I was home on time. My parents really liked that about him, and were a little saddened that the two of us decided to break up. It was a mutual decision, and we're still friends.

"Sam, you made it!" I hear my dad's voice say to him. Sam turns around and walks over to my dad. He seems happy to see that Brody and I are standing next to each other.

"I think they're trying to get us back together again." I hear him say, and his familiar scent filled my nose. I can't help but let out a small, somewhat forced chuckle.

"Well, we were a power couple." I say giving him a nudge. I see him run his hand through his hair and he rests his arm on my shoulder.

"Yeah, we were, weren't we?" He says and I smile at his comment. I remembered a lot of people telling us that a long distance relationship wouldn't work, and I knew he couldn't come to Hogwarts. He kept saying that he'll visit, but I told him that he can't and that it's a very closed off school. It was really hard to try to tell him and convince him that he could never visit me, but I did write to him whenever I had the chance to go to Hogsmeade, luckily I was able to go because we were dating when I was a fourth year. They were right, it was really difficult trying to keep up with the relationship. We stuck it out for half a year. The two of us never fought, considering that the majority of our relationship was basically spent apart from each other.

"Who was that guy you were talking to? And isn't he out of your league?" Brody says as he gestured towards Cedric, who is, not surprisingly, surrounded by girls. He isn't the type to go up to strangers and talk to them. He's more reserved and has a group of close friends. I scoff at his comment.

"He is, I mean was my best friend at my school." I say looking at him, and he seemed a little flustered by the amount of people surrounding him. Brody moves away from me and I turn to look at him he has this questioning look on his face.

"What do you mean was?" He asks with his arm crossed. "If it's over something stupid, I'm going to talk to him." He adds as he glares at Cedric. I roll my eyes and shake my head at him. Ever since our break up Brody has become like a protective older brother to me.

"Bekah!" Maddie says popping up in front of me. Brody looks impervious to what just happened to us, while I nearly jumped out of my skin. I put my hand over my heart trying to calm it down.

"Maddie, you nearly scared me half to death!" I say as she pulls me into a hug.

"I couldn't keep this secret from you, it was so hard!" Maddie says as the two of us are still hugging each other.

"Wait, you knew?" I ask her. She simply nods and her blonde hair moves up and down as she nods. "It's okay, I figured something was going on, my parents aren't great with surprises." I say and she giggles in response to my comment. "Maddie, do you remember Brody?" I ask her as I make room for Brody to stand next to me instead of behind me.

I watch as her expression changes as she managed to get a good look at him. "This is Brody?" Maddie says sounding shocked and her jaw was wide open. I laugh at her expression and nodded, but after the laugh fades I look over at Cedric, and he seems lonely standing by the wall by himself. A pang of guilt seizes my chest, but I do see my mum walking towards him. I bite my lip, not wanting to see how that pans out, so I switch my attention back to Brody and Maddie.

"You can't be the dorky little Maddie?" Brody asks looking at her as well. "We're all growing up." He adds with a pout and wiping away a fake tear. I lightly shake my head and let out a small laugh.

"Did I even come to your sixteenth birthday party?" I ask him, not remembering if I did or not, or if I was away at Hogwarts when he turned sixteen. I suck at remembering birthdays, but I try, I really do. Now that I have magic, I can probably enchant my physical calendar to remind me of upcoming birthdays, I just need to think of a charm that would work in such a way.

"No, you were at school." He says putting his head down and exaggerating his pout. "You owe me, you haven't been to any of my parties for…" he stops to count his fingers.

"Five years." I finish for him.

"Yeah five years." He says putting his hand down. Maddie and I let out a laugh as he just stood there giving us a reproachful look at the two of us. "You two always bullied me." He adds as he shakes his head.

"What are you talking about?!" Maddie and I said in unison, but honestly Brody is easy to tease/make fun of, the way he reacts is just priceless. "We don't bully you," Maddie adds shaking her head. Brody doesn't agree and moves on to our fellow Taekwondo buddies. I follow suit, and Maddie decides to go and mingle and maybe even find pictures of younger Uncle Nate in the house.

"You probably would be able to find some." I say as she runs off to my parents. She smiles excitedly as she makes their way to them.

"Happy birthday Rebekah!" A boy my age says as he gives me a high-five. The two of us were not close, compared to Brody and me.

"Thanks for coming," I say as he sits back down on the sofa in the living room. All of them are making themselves at home. I was one of the few girls in my class, most of them were boys. Some of them were younger than me but the majority were my age. We all grew up together with Taekwondo, and it's weird seeing them again. Some people from my class quit but I have known most of them since we were five years old.

"Of course, we haven't seen each other much since you started going to this 'fancy boarding school'," he says with air quotes around fancy boarding school. I let out a small laugh and shake my head at him. He's always been the sarcastic jokester of the class. I greeted the rest of the class, they were all happy to be at the party of one of the few girls in the class.

"Are you all here to meet my girlfriends?" I ask with one of my eyebrows raised. Nearly half of them look at one another and look back at me with a guilty expression on their face. "Well you won't be meeting them sitting here, would you?" I ask them, and their faces were priceless. There are so many people in the house, they are sure to find someone standing by themselves and hopefully have the courage to go up to a girl. Brody and Sam shake their heads at the boys that were roaming around the house now, trying to find a girl to talk to.

"I guess I should go make my rounds, I'll see you guys later." I say to them as I begin to make my way towards the kitchen area. I walk in and see Cedric talking to a group of girls, he doesn't seem to be very interested because when I walked in our eyes met for a couple of seconds. I see him excuse himself from the group of girls, and they are quite disappointed, but move on to another group of girls that are standing nearby.

"Happy birthday," Cedric says once he reaches me. The two of us stand there, not sure what to do to greet each other.

"Thanks," I say as I look around trying to find a way to escape, I really did not expect my parents to invite Cedric to my birthday party, ever. The two of us only talked to each other recently because of the Quidditch World Cup. "How was the World Cup? You know, besides the…" I trail off, not wanting to mention Death Eaters among the muggles in the room.

His face lights up, he loves Quidditch, and is one of the best seekers for Hufflepuff. He's not a petite guy, most seekers are a little smaller than the rest of the team, but not Cedric. "It was great, though I wish you were there to see it." He says looking down at the floor. _Is he feeling guilty?_ "I do need to tell you something though, but not here." He says looking around at all the muggles in the room. My mom is chatting away with some of the adults that were invited, as well as my dad. I nod and I lead him out of the kitchen to the stairs that lead up to my room. No one is there so no one can overhear our conversation.

"What is it?" I ask him as I folded my arms as if to protect myself from whatever he's going to say.

"It's about my dad, he's…" He pauses not sure how to say what he is about to say. He even looks around to make sure that no one is listening. "He used a memory charm on me," he whispers to me and I feel my eyes go wide out of shock and terror. Why would a parent do that to a child?

"What do you mean?" I whisper back to him.

"I know you remember how I acted as if I didn't know you; he basically erased you from my memory, as if you never existed. But it wasn't strong enough, every time your name was mentioned I would have these flashbacks, but I didn't know if they were real or not." Cedric says still whispering. "Every time I told him he would do the spell again, hoping that I won't remember anything, but after seeing you at the Quidditch World Cup, twice, I 'woke up' from my memory fog or whatever it is called." He whispers the rest of the explanation. I stand there trying to figure out how this is possible. Is there really a memory charm that will only erase certain memories? I know about Obliviate but no other memory charms, or maybe I can't remember any other memory charms, and it sounds like Mr. Diggory used an advanced memory charm on his son.

"Why would he do that?" I ask him and I look at him, and he seems to be quite perplexed by the way his dad treated him as well.

"I don't know, there has to be a reason." Cedric says and I can see him trying to figure out why his dad did what he did.

"Well, he did seem to show me some hostility towards me," I say to him, as I try to put the pieces together. I remember my parents never talking about the Diggorys at all after my second year. It seemed as if we were cut off from ever being contacted by the Diggorys. I missed him, I did, but I didn't want to bring up the subject to my parents. I assumed it was a sour subject for my parents, but now it seems as if amends are being made, well with whatever happened between our parents.

"By the way, my dad has no idea I'm here." He whispers to me.

"Then, how did you get here?" I ask him. The Ministry would have found out if he used magic, especially if he apparated here, if he did I would have heard a loud snap, unless he came here before I came back from my camping trip. I don't know, all I know is that Cedric isn't seventeen yet, his birthday is during the term, so there is no way that he's seventeen, at least not yet.

"I took the train here, after I used Floo Powder to go to Diagon Alley." He whispers to me.

"That must have been a long ride." I say to him wondering which station he would have gotten on a train to arrive at my house.

"Yeah it was." He says as yawns in front of me. He takes a look at the clock in my parents' room and turns back to me. "I think I should go, my dad should be coming back from the Ministry." _But he just got here, and it took him forever._

"Are you sure he will be back, after what happened at the Quidditch World Cup?" I ask him. I assume that all the people who work for the Ministry are working there overtime because of what happened at the Quidditch World Cup. I kind of want him to stay a little longer. I missed talking to him, and whenever I tried to, it was like he said, as if he didn't know me. I remember having to nearly introduce myself to him every time I saw him. His friends even thought that was weird, but dismissed it. I stopped trying after receiving that reaction from him.

"I don't know, he may or may not come home late. I don't want to risk him finding out where I am." Cedric says in his normal voice. I let out a sigh, I don't want him to get in trouble, and possibly lose this memory of us talking again. "I wonder what he has against you and your family. My mum doesn't seem to remember meeting your parents." My jaw nearly dropped to the floor, but I stopped myself.

"Your dad used the same charm on your mum?" I ask, and Cedric puts a finger on his lips to signify that I am being a bit too loud. I look around and guide him into my room. I leave the door open a crack and sit down on my bed, as he sits on my chair.

"Yeah I think so, I mentioned you to mum, and she looked at me confused by what I said. I stopped when I saw my dad come into the room." Cedric says as he explains how he figured out that his dad used the same charm on his mum. _I had no idea Mr. Diggory was such a cunning man. Wasn't he a Hufflepuff, too?_ I think as the two of us sit in silence. "So, this is the childhood room of Ms. Rebekah Seong." I hear him getting up from my old chair and he actually takes a look around my dull room.

"It's nothing much…" I say and realize I have some pictures of me and Cedric when we were eleven. He walks over to that wall, before I can stop him.

"Oh, look it's the year after we met." He says looking at the picture on the bulletin board. My heart suddenly begins to flutter. I absent mindedly put my hand on my chest to try and calm down my heart. "I looked like such a dork back then." He says still looking at the picture.

"I looked more of a dork. I had glasses!" I say as I walk over to look at the picture with him. "Those glasses were horrible." I say to him and he laughs. I stop looking at the picture and realize that the two of us are rather close. He stands up to his full height, and I do too. I try to hide the fact that my cheeks are red, but my hair is tied up in a half up-do right now. "It's kind of warm in here, or is it just me?" I ask as I fan myself and turn my back to Cedric. _What is wrong with me? He's a friend, just a friend._ I think as I remember him crushing on the Ravenclaw's seeker.

Cedric turns me around to face him and he comes closer, closing the distance between the two of us. Our foreheads are nearly touching each other, and my face is definitely a deep red, considering how warm I felt. He puts his arm around my waist and my breath catches in my throat. His other hand is under my chin and he lifts my head up so that our eyes meet. I glance away, too nervous to look into his grey eyes. "Rebekah," he says quietly, but then he says my name again but it sounds a little louder and the image fades away. "You okay, you're really red." Cedric says looking at me with a concerned expression. I put my hands on my cheeks right away, and my hands feel cold compared to my cheeks.

"Yeah, I'm fine." The two of us were still standing in front of the bulletin board of pictures that she has in her room. She cleared her throat and stepped back from him a little, giving herself room to breathe. She moved her hands from cheeks and straightened up. She couldn't believe that she thought about them almost kissing. _What was I thinking?_ She thought as she heard the creaking of the floors, indicating that someone was upstairs.

"Rebekah, are you up here? It's time to cut the ca-," Cedric and I looked at the door and saw Brody standing there looking at the two of us. He was leaning on the doorway, and had this mischievous expression. I walk over to him, and take hold of his elbow to guide him out. Cedric says that he will use the restroom before coming back down. "What was that all about?" Brody asks in a hushed sing song tone.

"Nothing, just drop it." I say squeezing his elbow, hinting that I don't want to talk about what I thought was going to happen. _Rebekah, he's just a friend, he probably thinks of you as a little sister._ I thought as we made our to the kitchen.

"Okay okay," he says defensively, and announces that I'm down here and ready to cut the cake. I smile as everyone cheers and claps as I make my way to the cake that has the candles shaped like the numbers one and six.

"Alright on the count of three, one…two…three…" My dad says as he's holding the camcorder to take a video of me blowing out the candles. He does this every year, whether it's a big party like this one, or a small one. I'm not much of a party person, but I guess my parents went all out because it's my sixteenth birthday. The room fills up with everyone singing "happy birthday". I smile and look at everyone around me, and when my eyes reach the doorway of the hallway to the kitchen, Cedric's standing there smiling.

"Blow out your candles, sweetie." My mum says and I snap back to reality and blow out the candles. Once they were out, everyone cheers and my parents take the melted candles off of the cake, and brings the knife out to cut the cake into pieces.


End file.
